Nick KrugKansas senior Marcus Garrett received nine votes from the Associated Press college basketball writers who voted for the 2020-21 preseason All-American team.
Although the postseason awards extend out to second- and third-team honorees, the preseason All-American vote honors just the first team.
In this case, that was six players, with Gonzaga senior Corey Kispert and Arizona State senior Remy Martin tying for the fifth spot on the squad.
That duo was joined by Baylor’s Jared Butler, Oklahoma State’s Cade Cunningham, Iowa’s Luka Garza and Ayo Dosunmu, of Illinois.
Garrett was the fourth-highest vote getter not included on this year’s preseason All-American team, finishing just one vote behind Villanova’s Collin Gillespie and North Carolina’s Garrison Brooks, with 10 votes apiece, and 13 votes behind Creighton’s Marcus Zegarowski, who received 22 votes.
Earlier this fall, Garrett was picked to the preseason all-Big 12 team and also named to the Bob Cousy Award watch list for point guard of the year.
Butler, the preseason pick for Big 12 player of the year, had a strong freshman season in 2018-19 and was even better as a sophomore, averaging 16 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game to earn third-team AP All-America honors last season.
Cunningham, meanwhile, arrived in Stillwater, Okla., with plenty of hype as the highest-rated recruit in school history. The athletic 6-8 guard can play the point or fill it up when he wants to, putting him at the top of numerous NBA draft boards for 2021.
Garza was one of college basketball’s dominant players as a junior, averaging 23.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game while shooting 54% from the floor. The 6-foot-11 forward was a first-team AP All-American and finished second to Dayton’s Obi Toppin in national player of the year voting.
And Dosunmu, a 6-5 guard was the first Illinois player in 20 years to lead the team in scoring as a freshman and sophomore. He can do a little of everything on the court, averaging 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 48% from the floor last season.
Here’s a list of the other players who joined that group of 10 in receiving preseason All-American votes: Trayce Jackson-Davis, 5; Jalen Crutcher, Dayton, 3; Trendon Watford, LSU, 3; Kofi Cockburn, Illinois, 2; Oliver Sarr, Kentucky, 1; Kihei Clark, Virginia, 1; Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Villanova, 1; Javonte Smart, LSU, 1; Oscar Tshiebwe, West Virginia, 1; Sam Hauser, Virginia, 1.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
